Month: December 2018

Here’s an excellent article by Gwynn Guilford, at Quartz, about the failure of American manufacturers. It focuses largely on the management failures at GM.

An excerpt:

” “American companies tend, fundamentally, to mistrust workers,” writes Keller in Rude Awakening. “There is a pervading attitude that ‘if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile’ because they don’t really want to work. “

Review of his six-year record in Congress shows Democrat frequently opposed own party, and supported bills that boosted the fossil fuel industry and Trump’s immigration policy

David Sirota wrote an expose’ of Beto O’Rourke and Sirota subsequently took a lot of heat from establishment Democrats for doing so. An O’Rourke candidacy virtually guarantees a loss for Democrats in the presidential race of 2020.

A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now Mandatory in Many States — so She Lost Her Job

The anti-BDS Israel oath was included in Amawi’s contract papers due to an Israel-specific state law enacted on May 2, 2017, by the Texas State Legislature and signed into law two days later by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. The bill unanimously passed the lower House by a vote of 131-0, and then the Senate by a vote of 25-4.

Child language specialist, Bahia Amawi, is a U.S. citizen received an offer to extend her teaching contract for another year, but it required she sign a promise not to participate in a boycott of Israel (BDS). She refused to sign because of the pro-Israel oath, was not re-hired, and is now suing over violation of her First Amendment rights.

At the time that Texas enacted the law barring contractors from supporting a boycott of Israel, it was the 17th state in the country to do so. As of now, 26 states have enacted such laws — including blue states run by Democrats such as New York, California, and New Jersey — while similar bills are pending in another 13 states.

The oil industry engaged in a secret public relations campaign to undermine U.S. fuel economy standards

One of the main actors was the largest oil refiner in the country, Marathon Petroleum. Marathon, along with others, ran a “stealth campaign to roll back car emissions standards,” the NYT reported. The campaign argued that the U.S. no longer needs fuel economy standards because it is now such a massive producer of oil.

“Fair share” described dividing up the sales pie to ensure that each company reaped continued profits. “Trashing the market” was used when a competitor ignored these unwritten rules and sold drugs for less than agreed-upon prices.

The terminology reflected more than just the clubbiness of a powerful industry, according to authorities and several lawsuits. Officials from multiple states say these practices were central to illegal price-fixing schemes of massive proportion.

This is an example of stunts I expect the Democrats to pull during the next two years: Promise to take care of the working class serfs and introduce bills they know will have no chance of making it through the Senate (or signed by Trump). It looks good for the Democrats, making it appear they really want to help serfs and working class (when they are primarily concerned with payola).

"Local media" (is it?)
For those who aren’t quite sure why these media layoffs keep happening, or think “it’s the internet!” or “people don’t pay to subscribe,” there’s a lot more going on. Though that is part of that. Here’s a cliffs notes version - not exhaustive but it hits the highlights (Twitter thread)

Did you know?

Funding Corruption

The Lie of “Nader Cost Gore the 2000 Election”

It’s one of the oft-cited lies, regurgitated by people and by the media (they’re lazy). Gore lost by 543 votes. 200,000 Florida Democrats voted for Bush! There were 8 third parties running, and ANY ONE of them got more than Gores 543-vote loss. Most of those who voted for Nader would have never voted for Gore, anyway. This lie is promulgated by the duopoly to discourage voters from voting for a third party.Dispelling the Myth